The Story Behind Flight Plan

For over twenty years, we’ve been developing the Flight Plan curriculum at Presbyterian Day School (PDS), an all-boys elementary school in Memphis, Tennessee. It started as an optional Bible study, but it quickly grew to a full-school curriculum centered on the seven virtues of manhood.

In 2004, Lee Burns, then PDS’ headmaster, and Chris Hill, then PDS’ chaplain, wrote the first draft of Flight Plan. Hundreds of boys went through this curriculum, and the first Flight Plan book expanded in 2009 by Lee Burns and Braxton Brady (who first added the analogies between a boy’s journey to manhood and a pilot’s plan for success).

Since then, a team of mentors has been sharing this curriculum with our fifth- and sixth-grade boys at PDS. Every week, small groups of boys meet to answer and discuss questions with their mentors and classmates. But this curriculum isn’t limited to the school. We believe families play an essential role in discipling their sons, so our mentors partner with dads to help boys live as true men.

People outside of our school started asking to use it in their own homes, schools, and churches, and we realized our curriculum could help a lot of boys and dads around the country. We went back to the Flight Plan manuscript for another rewrite, and we also started working on The 7 Virtues of Manhood. Steve Hancock, the headmaster of PDS, partnered with PDS’ former chaplain Braxton Brady and the Useful Group to write a book focused on helping boys apply these seven virtues to their daily lives.

We pray Flight Plan and The 7 Virtues of Manhood help many boys grow into godly young men. If you have a story about these books’ impact in your family or community, we would love to hear it!